Big moment for 11-year-old Pinki Sonkar at Wimbledon

An 11-year-old girl from India was the first Indian girl to toss the coin at the start of a Wimbledon final.

Why? Because she's special!

Pinki Sonkar was born with a cleft lip and palate in one of the poorest parts of India and needed surgery to fix it.

She was the centre of attention on Centre Court when she threw the coin to decide which player would  serve first.

She was chosen to represent the charity Smile Train which gave her her smile back.

Adapted From CBBC News

She must be very, very happy. The surgery turned a sad girl with a low self esteem into a beautiful little girl with a happy smile. Her life will certainly not be the same as now she can do everything without restrictions and the future wiil be much promising, for sure!

Pinki had a unilateral complete cleft lip.

Smile Pinki is a 39-minute documentary directed by Megan Mylan. The film shows the story of a poor girl in rural India whose life is transformed when she receives free surgery to correct her cleft lip. The documentary was made in Hindi and Bhojpuri, and won the 81st Academy Award for 
Best Documentary (Short Subject).

Puppy survives 10-mile under-bonnet ride in the US

A puppy has been rescued unharmed after becoming trapped under the bonnet of a car and driven around 10 miles in Florida.

The driver called fire officials to help with the removal of the dog, which was trapped between the steering mechanism and one of the axles.

The fortunate puppy was just thristy and a bit sleepy. He was taken to a vet but it seems the trip did him no harm. Now they are trying to find out who the owners are and it is a real mystery how he got into the engine!

From BBC News ( added )

Baby peccaries' first time out

Check out these baby peccaries making their first public appearance at San Diego Zoo in America

So cuute!

The little pig-like mammals have been taking in the new smells and sounds of the zoo where they'll live.

Peccaries use their large snout to dig and root around and youngsters often play together by leaping around and running in circles.

But as they're still very young, mum and dad are very protective.

Their zookeeper said: "A lot of times they will walk in front of the babies so you can't see them."

"They will stop and stare at anything that's strange and if they're feeling really nervous they'll get the whole family to run to the back of the exhibit."

Buttercup the duck gets new foot made by 3D printer

A duck born with his left foot turned backwards is waddling for the first time thanks to a foot made by 3D printing.

Two fully working feet on a duck are important for both walking around and being able to swim properly. So when Buttercup was born with a backwards left foot, his prospects weren’t great. Not only did his disfigured foot make walking difficult and painful, it also meant cuts and therefore infections were a concern.

Buttercup ended up at the Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary where they decided something had to be done to remove the threat of infection. Ultimately Buttercup had his left foot amputated, but that’s not the end of the story.

Sanctuary owner Mike Garey is also a software engineer, so he was keen to find out if there was a way to give Buttercup a replacement foot using available technology. Sure enough, 3D printing came to the rescue. NovaCopy, a manufacturer of 3D printing systems, agreed to help and used Buttercup’s sister Minnie as a model for a new left foot design.

The problem is, current 3D printing materials aren’t very flexible, so an alternative had to be found. Instead of 3D printing a new foot, NovaCopy instead printed a mould of the foot. That mould was then filled with silicone to create a flexible version of the final foot, thus offering Buttercup the movement he required to function normally. The foot will be attached using a silicone sock and a fastener.

Buttercup has yet to get his final foot, but he has seen prototypes and the finished version should reach the sanctuary at some point in the next couple of weeks. 

From CBBC News/ Geek